


The One Time Reid Don't Know What Everything Meant

by combeferre_writer01



Series: Moreid Moments [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Good times, M/M, Reid is too innocent, The BAU plays Cards Against Humanity, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25435468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/combeferre_writer01/pseuds/combeferre_writer01
Summary: Elle brings her deck of Cards Against Humanity for the BAU to play on the jet ride back from one of their cases. Hotch plays, Gideon sits this one out, and Morgan isn't allowed to be the judge...
Relationships: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid, Elle Greenaway & Jennifer "JJ" Jareau
Series: Moreid Moments [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1842313
Comments: 8
Kudos: 268





	The One Time Reid Don't Know What Everything Meant

**Author's Note:**

> I got help on this one from some Tumblr friends you all should check out: @stxrryspencer @prettyboy-reid @reidcorating Thank you, endlessly, to you three!

“My cousin sent me a game for my birthday.” Elle held up a black and white, rectangular box. “I thought it might be a fun cool down.”

“What’s the game?” Hotch looked up from his case file. 

“ _ Cards Against Humanity _ ,” Reid read, leaning forward to see the writing better. “ _ A horrible game for horrible people. _ ”

“It’s a fun play, Hotch,” Morgan vowed.

“It really is,” JJ grinned, a rare glint in her blue eyes. “Should be interesting with Spence playing.” 

“How  _ do _ you play?” Reid’s brow furrowed. “Can I read the instructions?” 

“Have you ever played  _ Apples to Apples _ ?” Morgan asked while Elle opened the boc and got the instruction pamphlet for Reid. 

“Never heard of it.” Reid opened the pamphlet, his eyes flying over the words at a seemingly impossible speed. “Seems easy enough.” He handed the glassy paper back to Elle. 

Elle and JJ already set to shuffling the cards. Hotch closed his file and moved to sit with the others. Placing a hand on Morgan’s forearm, Reid turned to the back of the jet where Gideon sat, wrapped up in his own mind.

“Gideon?”

“Hm.” The eldest member of the BAU looked to the youngest. 

“Are you playing?”

“That’s alright,” Gideon gently dismissed. “I’ll stick to chess.”

Reid frowned but nodded and turned back to the table where Elle was now dealing the cards.

“I felt, so Hotch starts.” Elle read through her cards as everyone did the same.

“Wait.” Reid’s frown was deeper now. “What’s a flesh-”

“Woah. Woah. Show me. Pretty Boy,” Morgan interrupted his boyfriend. He read the card Reid held out to him. “You really don’t know what this is?” 

“Should I? It has light in. It’s not- I didn’t read anything about this at MIT.” Reid combed the back of his mind for the information but came up blank. 

Elle, JJ, and even Hotch shared a look. Reid saw it but didn’t understand what it meant. Morgan sighed but leaned over and whispered the meaning in the younger profiler’s ear, whose frown deepened with every word. 

“Why does-”

“You don’t wanna know.” Morgan shook his head. 

Hotch wondered, very briefly, if he should put a stop to the game for the youngest’s sake. Reid was 24… He’d seen worse in the field. The kid would be fine…

“Okay.” Hotch drew a black prompt card and read, “Here is the church, here is the steeple. Open the doors and there is…”

* * *

“Should we really be letting Morgan judge?” Elle asked when it was the man in question’s turn to read a black card, his hand already on the pile. 

“Why not?” Reid held out another card- the one he just drew- for Morgan to see. 

“Are you saying I’d cheat?” Morgan scoffed and whispered the meaning of the new card in Reid’s ear. “Might be fun.

Reid looked at Morgan like he was insane and quickly shook his head, turning back to his cards. The interaction drew a small smile across Hotch’s face.

JJ giggled at Reid basically sitting in Morgan’s lap so the latter could see the younger’s cards. Reid wasn’t huge on PDA- unlike Morgan who’d get away with as much of it as possible if Reid was more comfortable with it. This was as close as the two had gotten in a while. 

“Hotch, tie break,” Morgan prompted. 

Aaron considered for a few seconds. “We’ll let you judge first the next time we play.”

Morgan’s only reply was a petty huff- good naturedly. 

A look of realization suddenly crossed Reid’s face.

“What is it?” Hotch didn’t know whether to be concerned or entertained. 

“Thanks to my Eidetic memory, these words will be seared to the inside of my brain until I die.” Reid’s confusion grew as his teammates laughed around him, even Gideon was chuckling in the back. 

“You’ll be okay, Reid,” Elle promised.

* * *

By the time the group had ten minutes left until the landing, Hotch was the only one playing who wasn’t whispering. Elle and JJ had taken to giggling over how cute the two dating profilers were. Some of the cards had Reid scoffing and giggling until Morgan whispered something that made him blush if he hadn’t been blushing already. Hotch wondered if Reid was lightheaded at any point from all the blood going to his face. 

“You really knew so few of these cards, Reid?” Elle didn’t try to hide her smile. 

“I didn’t have a normal college experience,” Reid pointed out. “I didn’t have a lot of friends to play this sort of game with.” He laid down his white answer card. “And I don’t read a lot of modern books…”

“Wait, wait. Have you seen the movie  _ Accepted _ ?” Morgan asked quickly.

“I love that movie!” JJ gushed. 

“I don’t know what they’re talking about, either, Reid,” Hotch reassured. 

Reid adjusted how he was sitting and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear to hide the slight flutter of his index and middle fingers against each other. 

“Elle, you're judge,” Morgan reminded. 

_ You really know so few of these cards, Reid? _ Elle’s voice played over in his head and it took every ounce of will in his body to stop his leg from bouncing a mile a minute. 

The others ignored- or rather pretended not to see- the nervous tics of their team’s youngest member and redirected the attention of the game from him.

* * *

That night, Spencer and Derek laid in bed, the younger wrapped safely in the darker’s arms. Spencer knew Derek was awake and Derek knew Spencer’s thoughts were keeping him up. 

Derek snuggled closer to Spencer, pressing a kiss to his shoulder, then where his shoulder met his neck, and lastly where his neck met his chin. The latter two placements made the doctor squirm slightly and the SSA smirk. 

“What’s that brain of yours thinking, Pretty Boy?”

“Was I annoying today?” Spencer rolled over in Derek’s arms so they were facing each other, their noses almost touching. 

“What makes you think you were annoying?” It was Derek’s turn to frown. 

“Just, I-I always… I kept-”

“Take your time,” Derek chuckled. 

“I kept asking what every other card meant. Everyone else knew what they meant.” Spencer’s fingers started fidgeting with the hem of his tank top.

“You’re allowed to know stuff, ya know? Just because everyone says you’re a computer doesn’t mean you are. I mean, look at how many times a day we ask you for facts or statistics.” 

“But that stuff matters. It’s saved people.” 

“And you really think playing that game didn’t matter?” Derek kissed Spencer’s forehead. “Playing the game was fun. Destressing and having fun is just as important as the job. At the very least, it was an excuse to sit really close to you in front of the team without you being jumpy.” 

Spencer blushed and Derek chortled. “Didn’t occur to you before now, did it?” Derek knew it hadn’t, but he had to tease his boyfriend. “You are too damn cute for your own good when you blush.” 

Spencer nuzzled his nose against Derek’s neck, hiding his face and making the darker skinned man chuckle again. 

“Feeling better, Pretty Boy?” Derek gently ran his hand through Spencer’s hair, twirling a strand around the tip of his index finger. The touches to Spencer’s hair were soft- breathes- because of how sensitive the doctor’s scalp was. 

“Much. Thank you.” His voice was muffled. 

“Think you can sleep now?”

The answer to Derek’s question came in the form of a tickling nod and Spencer snuggling closer.


End file.
